Title: ORNL radioactive waste operations

Abstract

Since its beginning in 1943, ORNL has generated large amounts of solid, liquid, and gaseous radioactive waste material as a by-product of the basic research and development work carried out at the laboratory. The waste system at ORNL has been continually modified and updated to keep pace with the changing release requirements for radioactive wastes. Major upgrading projects are currently in progress. The operating record of ORNL waste operation has been excellent over many years. Recent surveillance of radioactivity in the Oak Ridge environs indicates that atmospheric concentrations of radioactivity were not significantly different from other areas in East Tennesseee. Concentrations of radioactivity in the Clinch River and in fish collected from the river were less than 4% of the permissible concentration and intake guides for individuals in the offsite environment. While some radioactivity was released to the environment from plant operations, the concentrations in all of the media sampled were well below established standards.

@article{osti_5376677,
title = {ORNL radioactive waste operations},
author = {Sease, J.D. and King, E.M. and Coobs, J.H. and Row, T.H.},
abstractNote = {Since its beginning in 1943, ORNL has generated large amounts of solid, liquid, and gaseous radioactive waste material as a by-product of the basic research and development work carried out at the laboratory. The waste system at ORNL has been continually modified and updated to keep pace with the changing release requirements for radioactive wastes. Major upgrading projects are currently in progress. The operating record of ORNL waste operation has been excellent over many years. Recent surveillance of radioactivity in the Oak Ridge environs indicates that atmospheric concentrations of radioactivity were not significantly different from other areas in East Tennesseee. Concentrations of radioactivity in the Clinch River and in fish collected from the river were less than 4% of the permissible concentration and intake guides for individuals in the offsite environment. While some radioactivity was released to the environment from plant operations, the concentrations in all of the media sampled were well below established standards.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = 1982,
month = 1
}

A new Process Waste Treatment Plant has been constructed at ORNL. The wastes are processed through a precipitation-clarification step and then through an ion exchange step to remove the low-level activity in the waste before discharge into White Oak Creek.

The U.S. Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Oak Ridge, Tennessee generates numerous radioactive waste streams. Many of those streams contain a large number of radionuclides with an extremely broad range of concentrations. To feasibly manage the radionuclide information, ORNL developed reportable nuclide criteria to distinguish between those nuclides in a waste stream that require waste tracking versus those nuclides of such minimal activity that do not require tracking. The criteria include tracking thresholds drawn from ORNL onsite management requirements, transportation requirements, and relevant treatment and disposal facility acceptance criteria. As a management practice, ORNL maintains wastemore » tracking on a nuclide in a specific waste stream if it exceeds any of the reportable nuclide criteria. Nuclides in a specific waste stream that screen out as non-reportable under all these criteria may be dropped from ORNL waste tracking. The benefit of these criteria is to ensure that nuclides in a waste stream with activities which meaningfully affect safety and compliance are tracked, while documenting the basis for removing certain isotopes from further consideration. (authors)« less

The Savannah River Site`s Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) near Aiken, South Carolina is the nation`s first and world`s largest vitrification facility. Following a ten year construction period and nearly three years of non-radioactive testing, the DWPF began radioactive operations in March 1996. Radioactive glass is poured from the joule heated melter into the stainless steel canisters. The canisters are then temporarily sealed, decontaminated, resistance welded for final closure, and transported to an interim storage facility. All of these operations are conducted remotely with equipment specially designed for these processes. This paper reviews canister processing during the first nine monthsmore » of radioactive operations at DWPF. The fundamental design consideration for DWPF remote canister processing and handling equipment are discussed as well as interim canister storage.« less

Shallow land burial activities were divided into site selection, site design, site operation, waste acceptance, site closure/postclosure and corrective actions. Criteria for each of the six areas were developed by a committee process, in order to meet site performance objectives (10 CFR 61). This document discusses the site design and operating criteria. (DLC)

Robotic systems are being designed for use in radioactive waste storage remediation to reduce personnel radiation doses, perform tasks not otherwise practical, and reduce risks of further contamination and releases. There are special concerns for the design and operational planning for the systems relating to safety requirements and constraints beyond those of typical industrial applications. This paper discusses one of these areas: ensuring that potential robotic system faults are addressed and that the system design and preplanned procedures provide for their mitigation or elimination. Planned and conceptual applications illustrate the safety requirements, special concerns with potential robotic subsystems, typical remedialmore » design and procedural measures, and problems with approaches to resolution.« less